TAG to Valentine's Day in the Bay
by koinekid
Summary: Her objective: boost the confidence of the smartest man in two galaxies. Her assets: bright red lipstick and a knock-em-dead dress. Her area of operations: a dimly lit theater on Valentine's Day...sort of. Operation First Public Kiss commences at 1900.


_**Note: **The sexual content in this chapter isn't overt, but I've rated the chapter M just to be safe. Consider it a little Val Day present to loyal readers from an author who's been silent for a while. Some of this material has been previously published in my story Valentine's Day in the Bay. Read it if you haven't gotten the chance. Much of this chapter has been sitting on my hard drive for a while, though some of it was written more recently. _

_Thanks to **DaniWilder**, whom I'm sure beta-read part of this at some point in the distant past. Any mistakes or wrong turns taken by not following her advice are entirely my own._

**TAG to **

**Stargate: Atlantis**

**Valentine's Day in the Bay**

**by koinekid**

Their play at exhibitionism raised Rodney's confidence to an all time high and made Phase Three of Operation First Public Kiss a rousing success. Or was that an _arousing_ success? Jennifer moved against him. Yep. The fourth and final phase of the op involved reinforcing his good behavior with a reward. The more memorable, the better.

Reluctantly, she ended the kiss, intending to slip into the bathroom and change into the flyaway babydoll she purchased at Victoria's Secret. He'd love the way it showed off her tummy.

"Wait right here, honey," she whispered into his ear. "I'll be right ba—oh."

Rodney wasted no time shifting targets and renewed his labial attack at her throat. He knew just the right spots to hit too. If the women of this city had an inkling of the skill her man possessed, they'd never stop hounding him. Jennifer's chest swelled with pride at having snagged such a prime specimen.

"Rod, wait." She tried to break away again, but his fingers began working in tandem with his lips, moving around to stroke her bare back and—o_h, my—_her front too. She was on the verge already. If he moved the hand at her breast just a little to the left...

"God!"

Supernovas exploded behind her eyes, and Jennifer collapsed against him. Gently, he lowered her onto her bed. When had they crossed the room? They hadn't moved more than five feet inside when he pounced on her.

While spasms shook her body, Rodney stripped off his coat and tie and draped them over a chair. Jennifer smiled. Dare she hope for a striptease? But no, he was only making himself comfortable so he could sit beside her and hold her hand while she recovered. He smiled sweetly and leaned over to kiss her when her breathing normalized.

"Jen, sweetheart, you are amazing."

"_Sweetheart_?"

Rodney smiled shyly. "A pet name. Since you called me _honey_ I figured... I'll try another if you don't like it." A hint of uncertainty crept into his features, and Jennifer feared she might be in danger of undoing all they'd accomplished tonight.

"No." She pulled the man on top of her and crushed her lips against his. "I _love_ it."

When they separated, she noted how hard he was trying not to smile. The awful man was teasing her. So, that's how they were going to play it? _You're on, McKay._

Her index finger ran up and down his chest. "Know what else I love?"

Rodney grinned. "What's that?"

"You'll never guess."

"I think I might know."

Jennifer licked her lips. "Not a chance."

"Is it—?"

"Seal's _Greatest Hits_," she declared, then burst out laughing at his frown and crinkled brow. She just couldn't help it. "Put on some music, honey. I'll be right back to show you just how much..." Each word of this last phrase she punctuated with the briefest of kisses. "I...love...you."

Rodney made a playful grab at her, but she eluded his grasp. He rose to follow and caught her at the bathroom door. She let him kiss her again before nodding toward the laptop on her desk. "Wasn't kidding about that music."

He raised a brow.

"We'll need it to drown out the noise." Jennifer bit her lip. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of a screamer."

"Of course you are," Rodney said. "You've got me for a lover."

* * *

><p>Before answering Rodney's knock at 1900, Jennifer stashed her make-up kit and the infamous two-toned pink bag inside her bathroom. Only now did she consider the question that neither she nor Marie posed all those hours ago: What if Rodney needed to go when he got back here? The natural curiosity that was sure to make hiding his birthday presents such a challenge meant her darling genius would have peeked inside the bag without a moment's hesitation and ruined his surprise.<p>

Yet fortune had not denied Jennifer the opportunity to wow him, and for that she was grateful. Reapplying her lipstick and cleaning the excess from her teeth with a tissue gave her the chance to take in her reflection.

_Am I beautiful?_ she wondered. Past boyfriends called her cute or hot, and a professor who made her skin crawl once told her she had a _certain vulnerability in her features that men found appealing. _But no one outside her family ever used the one adjective she so desperately longed to hear.

No one, that is, until Rodney McKay on the day he asked her out for the first time. Never would Jennifer forget sitting across from him in the mess hall as he fumbled through an invitation, insisting it wasn't a date until she called him on his bullshit. _A beautiful woman_, he called her. Her smile stayed with her the entire day.

She saw that same smile reflected back at her now as she thought about the man awaiting her in the next room. The soulful strains of Seal's "I Am Your Man" penetrated the door. Jennifer allowed herself to become lost in the music, swaying and hugging herself.

The song came to an end and was replaced by "Kiss From A Rose." Jennifer wanted to time it so her entrance coincided with the first line of the chorus. A subtle nod to Rodney's love of the Batman character since the song had been the theme to one of the movies.

She breathed deeply and took final stock of the lingerie she'd chosen. The clerk at Victoria's Secret suggested something in stiletto red, a popular color for Valentine's Day and one that would have complemented the dress nicely. Jennifer went for a contrasting look. Less sexpot, more feminine. Less one night stand, more never let me go. A soft plum flyaway babydoll with matching v-string.

"...and the light that you shine can't be seen," Seal sang, "Baby, I compare you to..."

Her hand passed over the door sensor. She counted to three – long enough to be certain that her beau had directed his attention to the door – and glided into view. "Oh, Rodney..."

She was pleased to see that in her absence Rodney had divested himself of most of his clothing and peeled back the bed covers. It meant he felt at home here. He closed the distance between them like a shot, and for a moment she thought he was going to maul her. When he didn't, she almost felt disappointed.

Cupping her cheek, he shook his head.

"What?"

"You are so very..." His voice cracked.

"What, Rodney?"

"You're beautiful, Jennifer," he said, "and I don't know what I ever did to deserve you."

Jennifer grinned. "I could give you a list, but it would take a while, and I can think of better uses for our time."

"Better than stroking my ego?"

"How about stroking your—"

He covered her lips with a kiss. Prevented from telling him, she showed him.

* * *

><p>Bliss. Euphoria. Delight.<p>

Words all for a concept lost on Jennifer until she came to this marvelous city, until she fell for this magnificent man, whose gentle nature, so long hidden, now lay revealed in full. To her. Only to her.

Her gift. Her treasure. Her Rodney.

His searing touch... _Oh, _it lit a fire in her core.

His lips. His tongue. Caressing. Teasing. Racking her lithe frame with wave upon wave of sensation and deluging her with a thousand tiny emotions that had her shedding tears one moment and crying out for joy the next.

Their first time together had been too rushed. She saw that now, but at the time she'd been so hot for him that she couldn't think straight. And though it turned out to be the steamiest sexual encounter of her life, it had set the tone for their love life ever since. For good and for ill.

For good: Determined though Jennifer was to make their relationship work, the possibility that she and Rodney might not be sexually compatible weighed heavily on her mind for months. Twenty minutes under Rodney's skillful manipulation obliterated her concerns.

For ill: Rodney was _so_ skillful that they'd neglected to foster those emotions that would have propelled their joining beyond the physical. Instead of two people making love, they'd been two people in love having sex. A subtle distinction, perhaps, but an important one.

Tonight, that all changed.

Jennifer had joked about the volume of their lovemaking, and it was true that she was a vocal lover. They both were when they could be without fear of attracting attention. Endearments cascaded from their lips almost as soon as they shed their clothing. That was the natural outcome when two geniuses with sharp wits and sharper tongues got together. This night, however, both were strangely silent, as if unwilling to break the evening's magic or unsure which words if any could convey their feelings.

Or maybe speech wasn't necessary. She'd never felt more connected to another person simply by touching him. It was true. Some whispered, some shouted, but his every touch spoke. The lips at her throat said, you can trust me. The hand on her hip, you're mine. The tongue now caressing hers, I'll never leave you.

Suddenly, touch was no longer enough. She stopped him. Lifted his chin and stared directly into his eyes, said very deliberately, "I love you."

"I love you too," he returned almost perfunctorily and moved to resume their kissing.

He wasn't getting it. "I love you. I. Love. You."

How could she make him—? There. That sparkle, the dawning revelation. It hit him. He enfolded her in his arms, and this time when he said the words she knew he understood.

They had sex for the first time in the back of a private jet. In her bed this night, when both discovered the true union of sex and emotion, was the first time they made love.

This night went as far beyond that first frantic coupling as _it_ did beyond any previous experience. No man's touch before Rodney mattered. And in the future, though she'd give lip service to that afternoon in the jet as their first time (if only to shore up his bragging rights), and though she'd lost count of the number of times they'd been together since, it was this night she'd think of as their first. It was this night she'd hold close to her heart when distance or circumstance parted them, when duty drove one to the farthest reaches of the galaxy and left the other behind in a big, empty bed. And when they reunited days or weeks later, it would be to this Rodney she would return—not the arrogant scientist exasperated that his genius wasn't recognized, but the gentle, thorough lover, who made her, if only for an hour, or an evening, the center of his universe.

_**THE END**_

_**(for now)**_

_**Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated...**_

_**Hello, anybody out there? ;-)**_


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